dot hack END OF THE ROAD
by Ayren Okami
Summary: As Kite prepares for the battle against Skeith he begins to think about his friend and ally Blackrose, and the feelings he has for her. Please read and review. [Complete]
1. Questions and feelings

.Hack//END OF THE ROAD  
  
Genre - Romance/Action/Adventure  
(Kite x Blackrose) Timeline - the end of .Hack//INFECTION, and the beginning of .Hack//MUTATION Disclaimer: I do not own .Hack or any of its characters, they belong to Bandai Entertainment. Summary:  
As Kite prepares for the battle against Skieth he begins to think about his friend and  
ally Blackrose, and the feelings he has for her. Kites POV (point of view)  
  
Chapter 1: "Questions and feelings"  
  
As we made our way through the dungeon of Theta - Chosen, Hopeless, Nothingness I find myself occupied with the thought of my last conversation with Blackrose at the chaos gate in the root town of Dun Loireag. How I told that I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to defeat the monster that put my friend Yasuhiko, or Orca as he was know in "The World", into a coma and how we could end up the same way.  
  
I pushed the thought out of my mind as we entered the next room, it was large and square with the exit on the far wall, unfortunatly a lone magic portal stood between us and our exit. I took a step toward it, it became active, and a large Tetra Armor took it's place. Towering over us it raised its right arm, which consisted manly of a huge mace, to stirke us. I found myself giving out orders without even thinking. I told Blackrose to circle around behind it and attack, Elk, a very shy and timid but kind wavemaster, to hit the creature with every spell he had while I did my best to distract it. As the Tetra Armors attention was on me I heard a wooshing sound and intense heat fly over me, it seemed that Elk had used a fire spell, and was quickly followed by another sound, the all to familiar clang of metal against metal, as Blackroses heavy-blade sword made contact with the Tetra Armors back. The impact of Elks fire spell along with the pain of Blackroses sword slicing through the monters armor and the flesh it protected made the creature roar an mixture of pain, anger, and fear into an unearthly and hideous scream that could have shaken the walls. The monster slouched down badly wounded but very much alive, the on-screen counter showed that the previous attacks had brought the creatures health points down to one-quarter of its total. I shouted "get back" to my comrades, to which they immediatly obeyed, and ran toward our wounded adversary. "Staccato" I shouted as my character opened up on the Tetra Armor with a flurry of attacks with my two short swords. The monster fell in defeat under the power of my attacks. Elk let out a releaved sigh, Blackrose a triumphent "Yes" while lifting her large sword over her head, while I remained silent my thoughts returning to the beautiful young girl in front of me.  
  
We made our way to the exit, which had until only moments before been blocked by the hulking Tetra Armor, Blackrose went through first and just as I was about to was stopped as I was held back on account of Elk had grabbed my arm. "Is something wrong Elk?" I asked in my usual calm and collected tone, "Ummm...... Kite do you......" his voice trailed off. "Do I what?" concern edging its way into my voice now. "Do you love Blackrose, Kite?" Elk then blurted out in his usual quiet tone. It took a few moments for Elks question to sink in, did I really love her? was this feeling I had toward her really lo... "Hey whats taking you two so long?". Blackroses voice cut off my train of thought. "Oh nothing, just needed to talk to Elk for a minute thats all". "Oh well don't talk to long we've got to keep going" her tone was serious, trying to hide a hint of nervousness that was creeping its way into her voice. "Yeah...... sure Blackrose". With my reply Blackrose left the room again with Elk following close behind, but before he went through to the next room I blurted out one final question "Elk". "Yes Kite?". "Why did you ask if I loved Blackrose?". "Because you were staring at her after we beat that monster and you spend all that time with her that I just wanted to know". And with that said Elk turned and walked through the door leaving me alone with my thoughts.  
  
End of chapter 1 


	2. The final battle?

Thanks to everybody who reviews my story. I will gladly accept any and all constructive criticism but would ask that you not send any flames please. Once again I do not own .hack or any of its characters they belong to Bandai Entertainment. Well with that out of the way on to chapter 2: Kites POV (point of view)  
  
Chapter 2: "The final battle?"  
  
I found myself almost in a trance. Staring at the door in front of me, eerie purple mist rose from the ground warning me and my party that a very powerful creature lurks on the other side. After Elk and Blackrose had left me alone in the room where we had battled the Tetra Armor, questions were running through my mind. Did I love Blackrose?, was I strong enough to defeat the monster that put Orca, a Descendant of Fianna, into a coma?, if I did love Blackrose would I be strong enough to protect her if I needed to?. Once again I pushed the thoughts from my mind. Not wanting to think about such things now, not after we had come this far. With those thoughts behind me, I ran to join the others. Now on the bottom floor and about to face a difficult battle, those thoughts came rushing back, flooding my mind no matter how hard I tried to block them out. "You two still have time to log out, you don't have to follow me," my voice was emotionless. "No way Kite, we're in this together, aren't we....partner". I felt a smile spread across my face at Blackrose's response. "Elk, how about you?". "I.... I want to help you Kite, in any way I can". My smile grew wider. I had two people willing to risk themselves to help me reawaken my friend from his coma, even though they knew they could end up the same way. I knew they must have the same doubts as me, and yet they still put their faith in me. Now I would put my faith in them as well. "Thank you both for staying with me, and even though a tough battle lies ahead of us, I know that with you two standing and fighting by my side that we can.... no, will win this fight". "Yeah, you bet we will!" came Blackrose's response. I turned to face her and gave her a loving smile. To which she turned her head slightly, trying to hide her now blushing face. I turned to face the door again, let out a deep breath, and began to walk through it. "I will protect you Blackrose, even if it means I end up like Orca," I silently thought to myself as I passed through the door, ready to face the the monster that lay on the other side.  
  
We warped into a strange field that looked like it had been broken apart. Pieces of rock and buildings were floating around the area where we had warped to. Then I saw her. The girl who gave the book of the twilight to Orca, which was then passed to me. "Aura?" I said, still a little surprised that she was only a few feet in front of me. "I see you recieved the mail I sent you. Yet, however, it's too late" Aura replied in her soft, angelic voice. "Wait! there's something I have to ask you". As those words left my lips, a red wand materialized behind her, quickly followed by the creature who wielded it. "NOOOOO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but to no avail. The creature raised Aura with its wand, lifted its left arm, and activated its own data drain bracelet. Streams of code shot out from the bracelet and struck Aura, transforming her into a glowing red orb. Then, as if trying to escape further harm, the orb that had been Aura, began to float upward, but the creature that had data drained her had one last trick left. It summoned bolts of energy which immediatly struck the glowing orb, spliting it into three pieces. I watched all this, too stunned to move, that was until the monster turned its attention to me. It slammed its wand on the ground and pointed it directly at me, just as it had done after it had data drained Orca. And so the battle began, with myself and Blackrose running up to the monster for hand-to-hand combat, while Elk stayed behind dealing out healing and the occasional attack spell. As we dodged the creatures swings, and hit it with our own attacks, it seemed to slow down and attack less often. I thought this was a sign that we were winning, but I soon found out that the creature was just luring us into a trap. Suddenly, it threw its wand at Blackrose, which then appeared behind her, and began to lift her upwards like it did Aura. "BLACKROSE!" I shouted, "No, I will protect you, I will," I thought as I turned toward the creature who dared to try and hurt her. I ran as quickly as I could, leaping at the monster and crashing into what I could only describe as its abdomen. This threw the monster off balance and ruined its concentration. The red wand that held Blackrose vanished, and she fell back down to the ground, just like myself and the creature. As soon as we landed, I immediatly struggled to my feet and started to attack the monster with skill and spell I had. Within moments of my furious assualt, I was greeted with a wonderful sight. Protect break. "Now I have you," I thought, "This is for Orca". "DATA DRAIN," I yelled as my bracelet activated and shot out its own stream of code at the monster in front of me. They struck their mark and transformed the creature into what looked like a pile of rocks joined together. "Blackrose, Elk, now attack," I ordered. "Vak Drive" came Blackrose's response, followed by Elk's "GiVak Kruz" and finished with my Twin Dragons skill from my newly acquired Masterblades.  
  
As I finished my attack, the area where we were fighting in, faded, and was replaced with a new field. It had a black sky and dull, gray earth. "Blackrose, Elk?" I called out, and recieved no response. I brought my attention back to my defeated foe, who, as I gave it my full attention, actually began to melt before my eyes. It took only a few moments for it to melt completely into a pool of silver liquid that began to bubble almost immediatly. "What is going on he....." my thoughts were immediatly cut off as the ground began to shake violently, and what could only be described as purple tree roots erupted from the ground, heading for the pool of bubbling silver liquid. My attention darted between the silver liquid and purple objects breaking through the ground, until finally the two made contact with each other, and the very ground exploded. After a few moments, I brought my arms down, that I had used to protect my face, and opened my eyes. ".....Nothing," I murmered to myself as I franticly looked around the field for anything that might be any trouble, but all I saw was large piles of rock strewn about the field by the explosion. ".....Nothing at all," I thought, just as a small pebble bounced of my head, making me look upward, to see where it came from. What I saw froze me in place. A huge monster loomed over me. Its bottom half consisted of a long, cone-like piece of transparent rock, with a pulsating orb at its center. Its top half was made up of those purple roots, and a bare skull- like head with four eyes. As I continued to stand there, this new monster opened its mouth, revealing a bright white light, followed by a terrible roar. The ear-splitting roar that came from the monster sent out powerful waves that lifted me off my feet and threw me back far from this new creature. I landed on my stomach, hard, and struggled just to lift my head, but couldn't. I let myself succumb to the comfort of unconciousness that swept over me.  
  
End of chapter 2 


	3. Feelings revealed

Once again thank you to everybody who reads and reviews my story (remember no flames please). I do plan to make a sequel to this one as soon as I beat .hack//quarantine. And once again I do not own .hack or any of its characters they belong to Bandai Entertainment. Kites POV (point of view)  
  
Chapter 3: "Feelings revealed"  
  
It had been only a day since that battle against the monster who put Orca into a coma, and the appearence of a new, even more powerful enemy. I had recieved e-mails from both Blackrose and Elk asking if I was alright. Luckly, I was. I explained in my e-mails to both of them that this new monster did knock me unconscious, but it had only been for a few minutes and that I was alright now. But even after my reasurance, Blackrose still wasn't convinced and asked me to meet her in Mac Anu. I logged on and found myself in Dun Loireag. I turned to face the chaos gate, selected the Delta server, and in a matter of seconds was transported to Mac Anu. As I walked through the root town, I spotted Blackrose standing on the bridge that connected the two halves of the town, staring out over the water.  
"Hi. What did you want to see me about?" I asked in a rather cheerful tone.  
  
"Oh, Kite, you made it. Thanks for coming."  
  
"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked again.  
  
"Ummm, Kite, can we go somewhere a little more private?"  
  
"Sure, I know just the place" I said, taking her hand and leading her to the chaos gate. I selected Delta - Bursting, Passed Over, Aqua Field; a nice low - level area where we could talk, without being bothered by any strong monsters. We warped into the field. The warm sun and gentle breeze made for a wonderful area for players to come and and just talk or hang out if they got tired of the busy root towns.  
  
"Hey Kite come sit down with me" Blackrose called out. I hadn't even noticed she had walked over to a nearby tree, one of the few that dotted the landscape.  
  
"Sure," I replied as I strode over and took a seat beside this beautiful warrior, "So we're here, we're alone. What did you want to say to me?".  
  
"Oh yes, well Kite, even though a lot of battles together and, well, I was wondering where we..." her voice trailed off.  
  
"Where we stand on our relationship," I said, with a gentle smile on my face.  
  
"Well, yeah," Blackrose said, rather sheepishly, again trying to hide a blushing face.  
  
"Well, Blackrose, why don't you just tell me how you feel about me".  
  
"OK. Here it goes," she said, taking a deep breath. "Kite, I ... I love you". It took a few moments for those words to sink in. I had hoped to hear those words from her for quite some time, but now that I had, I still found it hard to belive. But before I had a chance to respond, a bone - chilling roar echoed across the field. "Wha... what the hell was that!" Blackrose exclaimed as she jumped up, grabbing her sword that had been resting against the tree,  
  
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it doesn't sound very friendly," I said, while drawing my Masterblades. It didn't take long for the source of the roar to appear. Blackrose saw it coming over one of the hills. As I stared at it, I could easily tell it was a data bug, glowing that green colour like the rest of the data bugs I had faced up until now.  
  
"Kite, what do we do? That thing is of a much higher level than us".  
  
"What do we do," I thought to myself. "We fight," I shouted as I rushed toward the data bug that had once been, or at least looked like, an Armour Shogun. The monster raised both of its arms, which was nothing more than two large swords, and brought them down hard where I had been only moments before.  
  
"Heee - ya," Blackrose yelled as she brought her large sword down on the creatures right leg, causing it not only to roar in pain, but also to lose its balance.  
  
"Now's my chance," I thought to myself, "now, while it's distracted". "Twin Dragons," I shouted, and my character began to strike the monster with multiple, powerful hits. But before I could finish my attack, the monster hit me in the stomach with the blunt end of one of its swords and threw me against the tree were Blackrose and myself had been sitting before.  
  
"NOOO, KITE," I heard Blackrose scream, which was quickly followed by an enraged scream, as Blackrose ferociously attacked the data bug with her most powerful attacks. "Vak Drive," I heard Blackrose yell as she continued her assualt on the data bug. I struggled to my feet, picked up my blades, but before I could even begin attacking again, Blackrose had brought the monster to protect break.  
  
" Now Kite."  
  
"Right, DATA DRAIN,". With those words, the bracelet activated and shot out its stream of code, rewriting the data bugs program and turning it back into a regular Armour Shogun, which was easily dispatched with Blackrose's Vak Drive and my Twin Dragons skill. The monster collasped and vanished like all enemies did after you defeated them.  
  
"Kite, are you alright," Blackrose asked as she ran up to me.  
  
"Yeah, Blackrose, I'm alright. I just had the wind knocked out of me, that's all".  
  
"Thank goodness. For a minute there, I thought the data bug had you".  
  
"Don't worry, Blackrose, I'm too stubbern to go down that easy," I said, with a laugh.  
  
"Yeah," Blackrose replied, with no emotion in her voice whatsoever.  
  
"Is something wrong?" I asked, in a somewhat confused tone.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Kite. I asked you out here to tell you how I feel and you almost got hurt".  
  
"But, Blackrose, I ..."  
  
"Kite, I'm sorry." With that, golden rings surrounded Blackrose as she logged out, leaving me alone and utterly confused about what just happened.  
  
End of chapter 3 


	4. Declaration

This is the final chapter. Thank you to all who have encouarged me to continue with this story. This was my first fanfic, so all the constructive critism was greatly appreciated. And I have finished all the .hack games and am busy beginning my sequel. Well, once again, I do not own .hack or any of its characters; they belong to Bandai Entertainment. Kites POV (point of view)  
  
Chapter 4: "Declaration"  
  
The loud "clang" sound of metal against metal was almost deafening as I raised my two short swords to block the downward slash of an all too familar katana.  
  
"Come on, Kite. Is that all you've got?"  
  
"No. No it's not, Sanjuro," I said with a sly smile forming on my lips. As Sanjuro pushed all his weight on his sword, I stepped back, causing him to stumble forward and trip over my foot, making him land flat on his face. "So, Sanjuro, how does that dungeon floor feel like?" I asked, in a mocking tone.  
  
"Ouch, damn that hurt, Kite" Sanjuro said while rubbing his nose.  
  
"Well, then, next time I guess you won't get so cocky," I said, while extending my hand to help him up.  
  
"Yeah," Sanjuro muttered as he grabbed my hand and I helped him to his feet. "So, shall we go again?" I asked.  
  
"Sorry, Kite, I've got some work I need to finish, so I think I'll log off".  
  
"I see... Well, thanks for the sparring match".  
  
"Later, Kite," Sanjuro said as the familiar golden rings encircled him as his character logged off and vanished, leaving me alone in the dungeon.  
  
"I might as well head back to town," I said to myself as I used one of my sprite ocarina's to warp me back to the field, then to the root town. I warped into Mac Anu. It was bustling with activity, with people forming battle parties, restocking supplies, newbies just starting to enjoy the game and myriads of other actions going on all around me as I walked through the town.  
  
"Yoo - hoo, Kite, over here," a high- pitched but familiar voice called me over to the very north end of the town, a open area for players to talk to one another.  
  
"Hello Mistral. I didn't think you'd be on today." Mistral was a wavemaster like Elk, but that's where the similarity ended. Mistral was a happy-go-lucky person who enjoyed to form parties and go exploring.  
  
"I didn't either, but here I am. So, any new areas to check out?" Mistral replied in her usual cheerful tone, which always seemed to have a unending supply of optimism.  
  
"No, sorry, I don't know any new keywords," I said half-heartedly while leaning against one of the walls and looking down at my shoes.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Mistral asked, her voice turning uncharacteristicly serious.  
  
"It's just that... I was hoping to see..." my voice trailed off, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks, making me blush.  
  
"Hoping to see who?" Mistral asked, a wide smile now plastered on her face, "A certain heavy-blade perhaps?" I blushed an even darker crimson as Mistral's smile grew wider.  
  
"Am I that obvious?"  
  
"You sure are," Mistral's said, a giggle escaped her lips. "So, the hero is in love. Ooooo... Young love, how romantic".  
  
"Mistral I..."  
  
"Say no more, Kite, it's obvious that you need a women's help with this matter," Mistral said as she grabed my arm and started to grag me through the town in search of Blackrose. It didn't take long to find her. She was standing on the bridge looking out over the river, like she had been a few day's ago. "There she is, Kite, now go tell her how you feel," Mistral said as she pushed me toward the bridge.  
  
"Well, here it goes," I thought to myself as I walked toward where Blackrose stood. "Hi," was all I could manage to say as I came up behind her. "Why am I so nervous now," I thought to myself, "I was'nt this nervous the last time I saw her." "Ah, but last time you didn't know that she loved you," my inner voice objected.  
  
"Kite, hi," Blackrose said a little surprised as she turned around to meet me eye to eye and snaping me out of my momentary trance.  
  
"I have'nt seen you in a while, Blackrose".  
  
"Yeah, well, I have'nt logged on in a few days, that's all".  
  
"Is it because of what happened in Bursting, Passed over, Aqua field?"  
  
"Yeah," Blackrose replied quietly while staring down at her boots. I placed a finger under her chin and brought her face back up to mine. I stared into her eyes, those ruby red orbs that were once full of confidence now seemed filled with worry and regret. Looking at her now, my nervousness seemed to fade away as I chose my next action. Blackrose had opened her mouth to speak but was silenced as I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to hers as gently as I could. It lasted only a few short seconds, but for those seconds everything just seemed to stop moving and remained still until we both finally broke our gentle kiss. I opened my eyes to see Blackrose's. They were no longer filled with worry or regret, but seemed to be be soft and full of emotion. I smiled at her and she smiled back before turning around to face the river again. I walked right up behind her, and wraped my arms around her waist, and gave her a kiss on her neck. To which she brought her hand to the side of my face and turned my head slightly and give me a deeper kiss then we had shared previously. Blackrose broke the kiss and whispered to me, "I love you".  
  
"I love you, too," I whispered back to her. As I, too, looked out over Mac Anu's river, my thoughts consumed with the beautiful girl I held in my arms.  
  
The End 


End file.
